What are the stipulations in owning an AR pistol in Illinois?
I read a law stating that any rifle you own in Illinois has to be over 26", is this correct?
Are there some sort of loopholes that people use?
A buddy said that you can simply purchase a lower and state that it is for a pistol and then as long as you don't use a barrel over 16", then you are fine... Sounds sketch

Anyways, thanks for the help in advance. Hopefully I made some sense.

Must be registered as a pistol. You can't take a rifle lower and make it a pistol.

I own a Sig PM400, completely legal in IL.

There is no "registration" required unless you are building an SBR.

All (Federal) Title I rifles have to be over 26" overall length AND over 16" barrel length. But your title asks about pistols, not rifles.

The only AW bans in IL are city or county bans in the Chicago area. There is no state level AW regulation. Are you in the Chicago area? There are also magazine bans in some of those Chicago-area cities. One odd restriction in the city of Chicago is that laser aiming pointers are prohibited.

In theory any portion of AW bans regulating handguns were voided by their concealed carry law, but there is no caselaw on that yet.

If you buy a lower you don't state that it's for anything, and it would be irrelevant in any event. Stripped receivers are just that, and transfer as "other" on a 4473.

Buy complete AR pistol
Buy Virgin stripped lower and build into a pistol.
Both ways are legal to aquire an AR pistol.

Rifles must have a minimum of a 16" barrel and be a minimum of 26" overall length. Rifles cannot be built into a pistol.

If you want a short AR, buy a factory made SBR and pay the tax. Buy a complete pistol and pay the tax and build when approved. Buy stripped virgin lower, pay the tax and build when the stamp comes back. Just remember that any SBR that you may build is legally requird to be 26" overall length or greater.

Well, you can, but you have to take it to a gunshop or somewhere with an ATF hotline and get it reclassified as a pistol, then take off the buttstock.

Good grief no. Where do people come up with this?!?

Er, no, there's not a mechanism to do that.